I would like to eliminate my Pioneer cd player and have the convince of having some sort of music server hooked up to my 990.
I was thinking of an ipod classic 120GB. 30,000 songs.
How could I or should I say can I connect it to my 990 for use in my home theater system?

Also I was considering the Logitech squeezebox duet but the ipod has more versatility.

I think Wadia makes a product that uses the signal before the ipod's internal DAC so you are able to recieve a digital signal. The second part is to use an exteral DAC (DAC Majic perhaps) to plug in between the Wadia and the 990. I do know how well it works, this is just been what I read. Seems like a lot of components, but this apparently is the way to go in order to utilize the digital signal from the ipod.

You could also just pick up an ipod cable that plugs in from the botton (not the headphone jack). I use this for the garage and it works quite well, but that is on a beater stereo with cheapo speakers. It does not work well with any components that are very neutral. So I imagine plugging it in "directly" to a 990 will produce poor results. I tried with a 970 (just had too). It sounded like compressed music - imagine that. But on a beater or ghetto blaster it sounds fine.

Search for Wadia for more information or DAC Majic. There is some really good information out there about these two products.

If you have a dock that offers a digital output, I'd suggest starting out by just going directly to the 990 with a digital cable - the 990 has a pretty respectable DAC already, and I've used it for CD's with very pleasant results. If you are using any sort of lossy compression (no matter how good) or if you ever use any surround processing with music (PLIIx, NEO:6, or 5/7 Stereo), I'd definitely hold off on investing additional money in an outboard DAC. I think the idea of a dock with digital out and a DAC is most often used for two-channel systems, as good two-channel setups are often based around analog receivers or pre-amps.

I did a brief search and found two docks with digital output: the Wadia (pricey at $380) and a DLO (somewhat less pricey at $200). For the price of the Wadia dock, you could get an AppleTV with a 160GB hard drive and transfer all the files to it, which could then be hooked to the 990 via optical and a video cable of your choice. You could also get a SqueezeBox, but you'd have to deal with accessing your audio with some extra software and you'd have to have the computer turned on to serve up the files.

If I may get in on this. Gonk, you mention using the AppleTV. I am to understand that you could download your Itunes library to the AppleTV, plug this into your reciever/Pre-Pro and you would have access to the files using a digital out and using the internal DAC? Do you know off hand what the results are?

The AppleTV is primarily acting as a network media client, similar to a SqueezeBox, but you can physically copy portions of your iTunes library (via wireless or wired network) to the device's hard drive (they make a 40GB version and a 160GB version). As for how it sounds, the biggest factor is the files themselves: lossy compression (be it MP3, AAC, or whatever) is still lossy, but a lossless solution (be it WAV, Apple Lossless, or whatever) should be able to match the original CD. I don't know that the AppleTV / iTunes support for lossless formats is particularly good (limited to just wav and Apple Lossless, I think), but for someone who is already using an iPod as a significant audio source the file library would port over directly (including any DRM'ed files bought through iTunes).

Rubbersoul,
I have my iPod classic 30 gb hooked up to my 990 using the video 5 input on the front with a cable from the iPod headphone out to the RCA inputs. If you just want to play your music, try it out. The cable is available almost anywhere and despite what all the "audiophiles" out there say, it sounds pretty good. Just remember that the output of your iPod will affect the sound level. DYNEX makes a cheap dock to keep your iPod charged and allow you to input to the 990. As far as convenience you can't beat it. Your iPod is still portable and your music is still able to play through your system for about $10. I put all of my music into iTunes and I could use my laptop as a music server but it is not as easy as the iPod. I have a large collection of music from the last 40 years and I cannot tell a difference between the compression formats. A lot of music which was recorded prior to the MP3 format coming out is badly compressed anyway. If you import you cds into iTunes and play them through you system I think you will be pretty satisfied.

Don't leave out the squeezebox due to versatility:

I'm running one to my living room streaming FLAC (lossless). My entire music library is loaded on my desktop and I stream it through the my wireless network to the SB3 which is connected to my rr2150. It also will stream internet radio and pandora. If you are a programmer, I see that there are plugin aps and developer kits to customize it as well. For a while I was streaming the weather forecast across the face of my SB3, I'm thinking the Duet can do something similar.

fun toy

The Squeezebox definitely has my vote. Analog, optical and digital coax outputs so your choice how you want to connect to the 990 and you can use many more types of music files than with an iPod. Plus it is about the same price as that overly expensive Wadia dock.

Not a day goes by that I don't use my SB

Wow, thanks for all of your responses.
I have to get more info as far as connections for the squeezebox. I am not into computers except for getting information on the internet.
I really would like to get the ipod but I also enjoy my music at times played with the volume UP.

If you don't already have an iPod, I'd look closely at the SqueezeBox first and perhaps the AppleTV second.

I went to the Apple store and ask about Apple TV. Seems that I would be able to use the Apple TV to listen to all of my CD's once I donwload them into my external hardrive connected to my iMac.
Also I would be able to use the Apple TV and watch my personnal Standard DVD's once downloaded on my iMac. I have to purchase a software that enables me to download my movies on my iMac and store them on my hardrive.
I asked the sales-person what program to use and he told me he could not by law give me the name of a program that works well with the mac.
The word ids GOOGLE.

I've poked around a little with the idea of putting DVD's on AppleTV, but haven't dug into it enough to actually do it.

I'm also in the Squeezebox camp and I also use it to stream lossless FLAC files. My primary motivation was to be able to crate up all my CD's so the kids didn't slowly destroy them. One of these days, I'll build an embedded media system (maybe using MythTV) to add 1080p (but mpeg4 compressed) video to the mix so I can stash my DVDs away too. There are laptops out there these days with HDMI outputs and digital audio out for well under a $1000 so I might just go that route and have a couple of TB of disk mounted wirelessly.

Best,